Deadly Quest
by The QAS
Summary: Melissa, Skyler, and Sophie. Three very different kids. With three very different godly parents. But now, these children must take part in a prophecy, that might mean life...or death. -Set after TLO. On hiatus until further notice.
1. Melissa

**Disclaimer-Sadly, I am not Rick Rordan :( **

**I know it starts out a bit slow for the first few chapters, but trust me, it gets better.**

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My name is Melissa Harris. The name "Melissa" is latin for: "Of the sea" or something. I always sort of liked my name. I'm the kind of person people just walk past not thinking much of. I'm fine with that. I don't like causing too much attention to myself. I guess I'm average looking. I have light brown hair, that's sort of blondish, and reddish. Most people call it strawberry blonde. My eyes are a pretty shade of blue, that's one of my favorite things about my appearance. I'm about average height, not too tall, not too short, just right (I sound like Goldie Locks from the three bears.) And even though I live in Florida, my skin is hopelessly pale.

I'm not the most popular girl in school. I have a couple best friends, and a couple close friends, and that's really all I need. But in general, people seem to like me because they get the idea that I'm rich. You see, I live in Ocean Ridge, which is a small town around the area of Palm Beach, where we have a nice sized house by the water, with two dogs and a cat. It's only a couple square miles, and more than half of it is water. But for some reason, I go to school in Miami, which is a long drive. There's less than two thousand people living there, and not even nine hundred families. When I tell people that, all they hear is "Palm Beach", and everybody assumes we have a lot of money. True, we are pretty well off. My mom has a good job in some ocean life conservation aquarium thingy. But that doesn't mean that I'm some airhead who always thinks about money. The second thought people seem to get about me, is that I'm dumb. I have dislexia, and ADHD, so I can't really read, and I have a short attention span, and tend to zone out if things get boring for me. It's only those who really get to know me for who I am that are my real friends. And sadly, few people do that.

Mrs. Clare, my math teacher, is definetly **not **one of those people.

"Melissa, are you paying attention!" she demanded. It was more of an accusement, rather than a question.

It was a normal boring school day. I was happy today was Friday, and the weekend would be here at last. Math is the last subject of he day, so I, as usual, was totally zoning out on her.

Mrs. Clare banged on my desk. "Are you paying attention?" she repeated.

"No," I answered flatly. A few kids giggled.

"Well, you better start if you want to pass this class. Tell us, what is a polygon."

"A weird word?" I guessed.

"No," she said. "Who was paying attention and can tell me what it is?"

A couple kids raised their hands.

"Nellie," she called.

"Um...is it...a...a closed shape?"

"And what do the lines on that shape have to be?"

Nellie thought for a minute. "...str-straight?"

"Correct."

She sighed in relief.

I stared at the clock. I hated clocks, especially those face clocks. It took my forever to figure out the time on them, and by the time I finally did, IT WASN'T THAT TIME ANYMORE!

My friend Kate passed me a note. It took me a while to read, but eventually, I was able to. It said: _Melissa, are you doing anything after school? _

I wrote back to her, in my scribbly handwriting. Kate was one of the only people, other than my mom who could read it. It didn't help I was horrible at spelling also. _Yah, im helping my mom with tha dolfans_ I wrote to her. I thought for a minute, then added._ Yuo can com to if yuo want_

I passed the note to her when Mrs. Clare wasn't looking.

She read it, then wrote. _No, sorry. My dad's making me go to some boring computer class, but he said I could bring a friend. It's fine, I'll ask someone else. Don't worry about it. _

_Ok _

The bell rang. I jumped out of my seat and ran out the door before I could get in any more trouble.

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**So? What do you guys think? You have no idea how much reaserch I had to do before finding a town in Florida for her to live in. So for the other two, I'm not going to be as spesific.**

**I really want to know what you thought about this chapter. Please review-Anonymus review are accepted!**

**:)**


	2. Skyler

**ANNABETH FAN11324 and MoonDance29 thanx for reviewing. **

**Now here's the next chapter:**

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My name is Skyler. Skyler Robinson. And, yes, I am a** boy**.

I'm average looking. My hair is brown, or dirty blond. It depends in who you ask. My mom and other adult say it's blond, but most kids say it is brown. I, personally, couldn't care less. And my eyes are just a boring old shade of brown. I'm twelve years old and currently finishing up the fifth grade-and just for the record, the only reason why I am still in fifth grade, is because my idiotic teachers decided to hold me back for no reason whatsoever! I'm one of the tallest kids in my class-though that could be because I'm a year older than all of them.

It was the last day of school. Most kids after the last school day want to go home and party. Unfortunately, I could not do that, because at the moment, I was busy sitting in the Principle's office. While the teachers were talking about my "mental challenges" and stuff while I am sitting right there. I mean heee-lllllooooo-ooooh? People, I'm right under your noses and can here everything you're saying about me. You know, just because I have dyslexia and ADHD, doesn't mean I don't understand English!

But apparently, Mr. Jenkins, my science teacher, did not know that.

"Look, Mr. Clarkson, sir," he said to the principle, "you have to understand, this kid is unteachable!"

"Nonsense, Larry," said Principle Clarkson. "You just have to give him a chance. Every child needs to be taught in a different way," he winked at me. Mr. Clarkson is a nice guy, he's around his mid fifties, short, and always wears a hat. He always smiles and winks at me in a creepy way, as if we were sharing a private joke, or secret of some sort.

The lady at the front desk decided to join in on the conversation. "Jinkens is right, Rob," she told him, "the boy's almost impossible to teach anything to. After all, you know he has 'issues', he has caused more than half a dozen teachers to quit over the years. We're running short on staff and the kid's not helping-especially in the time of a recession. The kid-"

"-Is sitting here, and has a name," I muttered.

The lady's face turned red in enbaressment. "Sorry, I forhgot you were here, Tyler."

"It's **Skyler**," I corrected.

"That's what I said."

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After a long boring lecture about my behavior, I still remained subborn as ever-my uncle says this will make me a good lawyer some day. Eventually, they called my mom in, and sent me out of the room. They had a long, private, boring talk. The only good part was, when they had this talk, my mom let me play on her iPhone, where I beat my high score on _Doodle Jump_.

I was busy shooting cartoon aliens with my nose, when he door opened.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"...Well?" I said finally.

Mr. Clarkson looked uncomfortable. "We have decided that...it is best for you to...we've come to a decidsion that you would..."

"You're expelled," Mr. Jenkins transalated.

"What?" I demanded. "Mom, you're not seriously going to let them do this, are you?"

My mom didn't answer. She looked down at the floor.

"Are you?" I repeated.

"I'm sorry, Baby. But the school thinks it would be better for you to...recieve your education somewhere else."

"Where?"

"We will discuss this in the car."

"Umm...okay."

"Thank you, Mr. Clarkson, and all that you've done to protect my Skyler," I heard her whisper.

_Protect?_ What did she mean? Was there someone or some_thing_ out there to get me?

"Skyler," my mom yelled, sounding like her old self again, "the car, let's move it!"

So I followed her, still lost in my train of thoughts.

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**Yay! Another chapter finished! :)**

**Sorry this one was a bit shorter, I think the next one will be longer.**

**We find out more about their backygrounds later.**

**Until I return...REVIEW!**


	3. Sophie

**MoonDance29 Thank you for reviewing, I'm so happy you like it! :)**

**Note: This is from the point of view of a nine-year-old, so sometimes the grammar is wrong on purpose and the game she made up is really stupid (but don't tell Sophie that)**

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**Most people think that orphanages don't exist anymore. They think that they're only in old stories like "Oliver Twist". Well, thoughs people, are stupid-heads! How would I know? Good question, I live in one. "Parker's Foster Care" is not supposed to be a permanent home, kids without parents-like me- go there for a couple months tops until they're adopted or taken into Foster care. But for me, Sophie Black, it has become my permanent home.

Maria Parker owns "Parker's Foster Care"; it's pretty much this big old mansion in the woods, in the middle of nowhere in Washington. Maria says that her family has been housing orphans (whatever that means) for more than a hundred years, so like, when there were dinosaurs. You might think that it'd be cool to live in a huge mansion. It is, but after a while, it gets BOOOAARRRINNG!

But the worst part of all is that nobody really likes me. Ever since I was little, people would take me in, but after a few weeks at most, they'd realize I was too much to handle, and send me back. Over the years, I've made a few attempts to escape, once I got all the way to Seattle before they caught me, but they always did. So eventually, I just gave up trying. Wow, my life sounds like a depressing shelter dog story.

The other kids aren't much help either. They think I'm stupid because I can't read. Whenever I tried to explain to them that I have dyslexia they never listened.

Since I didn't have any real friends, I decided to make an imaginary one. I had given up trying to be friends with the other kids, and just accepted that I wasn't like them (okay, I guess crying for an hour isn't exactly considered "accepting".) And when I was five, that's just what I did, her name was Stella. Stella and me went on amazing adventures together, everywhere from the center of the earth, to outer space.

That was four years ago, and today Stella is still my bestest friend!

One day, me and Stella were playing on the playground. While the other kids were jumping rope, playing hopscotch, or basketball, Stella and I still preferred our adventures. That day we were pretending that we were two princesses who had to save the world by taking the magic diamond from the evil witch.

"Hurry Princess Sophie, only have two minutes!"

"I'm stuck!" I cried, pretending to get aught in the jungle gym. "Princess Stella, please help me!"

"No time!" she cried. "Can you reach it?"

"I'll try." I dramatically reached out one hand weakly.

"One minute! Hurry, Princess!"

"I almost have it…"

"Ten seconds!"

"I think I've got it, just a bit further."

"9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…"

"Who are you talking to?" Well, there goes the world.

Shoot, I'd forgotten about the other kids. Now, standing over me, was Jack, one of the most annoying boys in the world.

"Who are you talking to?" he repeated.

"No one," I muttered.

"You were talking to your imaginary friend again, weren't you?" Everyone laughed.

"No," I said dignity.

But they just kept laughing. My face burned red with anger and embarrassment. I had been humiliated for the last time!

"Just leave him," Stella old me, "they're not worth it."

But her voice sound so far away. There was blood rushing in my ears as I felt hatred building up. I wanted to get back at them. _Hard._

Then, it happened. Suddenly, the ground opened up right under Jack's legs! And it wasn't and earthquake, nothing else was affected. All the other kids were screaming and running indoors. And then, it got worse, I saw a boney hand-the hand of a skeleton- reaching out and grabbing Jack's leg it was going to pull him down!

"No!" I couldn't let this happen. It wasn't the first time weird things happened when I got mad, but it never put anyone's life in danger. I had wanted revenge, but not to kill him! What was I going to do? Part of me wanted to leave him out there, but I knew that wasn't an option. But if I ran inside to get help, by the time someone came, it'd be too late. Something like this once happened in one of my games with Stella. And I knew there was only one thing to do: I was going in…

"Hold no!" I cried. Jack was desperately clawing at the sides, I knew he could hold on much longer.

I grabbed him and pulled with all my might. Jack popped up on the ground moaning, and not a moment too soon, because just then the ground closed up.

This was so weird. What was going on?

While me and Jack were panting and covered in sweat, Stella was standing with a smug smile on her face.

"What are you so happy about?" I demanded. "We could've gotten killed."

She smirked (you have **no** idea how annoying it is when something that you created mocks you.) "I won't say I told you so."

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**Again, as I said, it starts out slow, but in a few chapters (hopefully) it'll get a lot better. **

**Please review! ;)**


	4. Melissa 2

**Skylan D. Water and MoonDance29 thank you for reviewing! **

**Note: Melissa's cat in this chapter is dedicated in memory of my friend's cat Lyla who was recently put to sleep :(**

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I rode the bus back home. It takes about an hour or two for me to get from school to home, and vice versa.

I sat next to some random lady and pulled out my iPod.

The next hour was pretty uneventful. I just sat there iPodding (I don't even think that's a real word) for the rest of the ride.

An hour or so later I was home. I pulled out the key from under the matt and turned the lock. "I'm home!" I called.

Sam was on the floor when I came in. Seeing me, he wagged his tail.

"Peaches!" I called. "Come here, Princess." The Pomeranian ran into the room wagging her tail. "There you are!" I said. "Now where's…" something fell on my head-or rather, something jumped on my head. "Uh…never mind."

Sam finally got the energy to stand up, but Peaches growled at him and nipped at his ankles until he sat back down.

"Peaches, no! Bad girl!"

Maybe I should give you some background information on my pets. I'll start with the cat. When I was a baby, my dad abandon mom and me. Shortly after, my mom was very lonely, so she went to the shelter to adopt an animal. There she found Angel, a two-month-old black kitten. Mom saw her, and quickly fell in love with her and took the cat in. I guess for some people, black cats are good luck.

Then, there's Peaches, a five-year-old orange Pomeranian. I got her for my sixth birthday. She got her name because she's peach colored. Peaches looks kind of like a fuzzy little fox. She's a little dog, but with a big attitude. I suppose mom and I are to blame for that. We spoiled her like crazy. Smothering her with Rhine-stone collars and leashes, tons of chew toys, weekly appointments to the doggie spa, and of course, a custom-made doghouse. In Peaches's mind, she was a princess, the world revolved around her, and as long as she was in the spotlight she was happy.

But that all changed six months ago when we introduced her to Sam, a golden retriever mix. Sam had been raised in a puppy mill, and treated horribly. Fortunetly, a policeman discovered the mill and arrested the one responsible. But Sam still had a long way to go. Sam and his siblings were given intense medical treatment, but Sam's condition was the worst of them all. He had a deadly parasitic worm with a long name that I don't remember. The only way to get rid of the worm was to do surgery. But surgery on a two-month-old puppy is very dangerous, if they were extremely careful, it could kill him. Time was running short and Sam was living on borrowed time. So the vets made a drastic decision-the would have to perform the surgery, or else he'd die for sure. Amazingly, Sam made it through the operation with no permanent damage; I knew I just knew I had to have him.

After weeks of convincing and begging my mom, she finally gave in and agreed to take Sam home with us.

It wasn't long before I noticed a strange rash on him, and we took him to the vet. I figured it would be nothing too serious, like that the worst that could happen was that he'd have to wear a cone or something. Boy, was I wrong.

As it turned out, Sam had some kind of dangerous disease, and the only way to stop it from spreading—was to loose that leg. He went into surgery again, and the doctor said that he would need to rest for a while, and had to have meds three times a day.

He's much better now, but still has trouble walking, so he mostly limps. He is a really brave dog and I'm proud of him. But apparently, not all household members felt the same way.

Peaches never had a problem with Angel, but she resented Sam from the start. And his neediness after the surgery did not make it any better. Peaches was jealous of Sam, and everybody knew it, even Angel kept away from Peaches if she was in one of her moods. And mom and me were worried that someday, she might seriously hurt him.

And that's why ever day after school, before visiting mom at work, I always had to check on our pets, give Sam his medications, and make sure hat Peaches didn't kill him.

I took Peaches and Sam out, gave Sam meds, filled all of their water bowls, and snagged a donut for myself.

After wolfing down the donut, I hopped on my bike, and rode to the aquarium.

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Once there, I parked it outside.

"Hi, Bob," I high-fived the security guard. At the aquarium everybody knows me because of my mom.

"Hey, Roger," I said to the man at the front. "Do you know where my mom is?"

"Yes, I believe she is with our two newest arrivals."

"The monk seals are here already? When did they come?"

"Just this morning while you were at school."

"Cool! I've gotta see them! Take care, Roger."

"You too, Melissa."

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I always loved the water, and anything that lived in it. Everything from anemone to X-ray fish and everything in between.

"Hi, mom!" I said.

Mom was wearing a nametag and had her hair tied back. She was giving what looked like a tooth inspection to one of the seals. She smiled when she saw me. "Hi, sweetie. How was school?"

I shrugged. "Eh."

"What did you do?"

"Stuff," I said. I turned to the seal, "and who are these cuties?"

"These are the new monk seals."

"Do they have names yet?"

"No. Not yet."

"I thought we were working with the dolphins today."

"We are. I just have to give these seals a health inspection. Do you have your backpack?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Why don't you go to the dolphin area and get started on your homework there."

"But-" I protested.

"The show is in a few hours. If you want to do it with me, then you'll have to finish your homework. Because it'll be too late to finish it when it's over."

"_Fine_." I pouted. Who invented homework, anyway?

Little did I know that in minutes my life would be changed forever…

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**Sorry a lot of this was going on and on about her pets. My dad says I need to use more "descriptive paragraphs". **

**Anyway, as you know by now, reviews are much appreciated.**


	5. Skyler 2

**I like to thank Skylan D. Walker again for reviewing :D**

**Alright, you know the drill read and review! :)**

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"Why? Skyler, Why?"

"Why, what?" I said in my best I'm-innocent-and-didn't-do-anything-wrong-so-you-can-stop-yelling-at-me voice.

"This was the last straw!"

"What was?"

My mom turned around to look at me from the driver's seat. "You put live pigeons in Mr. Jenkins's desk!"

"Oh, come on! That guy over reacted. I mean, even you have to admit, it was pretty funny."

"He didn't seem to think so."

I could help but smirk. Mom continued to lecture me the entire way home. So as you can imagine, by the time we were reached our apartment, I had had enough, and practically jumped out of the car.

"Not so fast!" mom said.

I stopped. What did I do now?

"You're grounded. We will discuss this later."

"What's there left to discuss?"

"Just go to your room."

I made a face, and stomped my way to the elevator. Mom and me (I don't have a dad) live on the top floor of an apartment in Chicago, Illinois.

I went to my room, just as mom said. But then, a thought occured to me: _She said I had to go to my room, she never said I had to _stay_ in my room._ I enjoy twisting words to my advantage-it is a natural talent of mine.

I opened the window of my room, made sure no one was looking, and grabbed onto the wall. I carefully climbed until there was nothing left to climb, and pulled myself onto the roof. Now, it's not as dangerous as it sounds. First of all, I live on the top floor, so there isn't really all that much to climb. Secondly, I never fall off-never, I guess I'm just good with heights. But still, I don't recommend trying this at home, kids. I know if my mom knew I did this she would freak.

I like the roof because it gives me a chance to be by myself and clear my mind. You know, just to get away from everything that bothers you.

On the roof, there is a nest of Peregrine Falcons-the fastest bird in the world. They've been coming back annually for three years now. I really like birds, I find them interesting and I know a lot about them. They are, in my opinion, the only thing worth reading boring books about to know more. Over the years I've really gotten to know these birds, I even gave them names, the female is Sasha, and the male is Bob (I know, very original.) Ever year, they make a nest and have chicks, and every year, I name those chicks and get to watch them grow up.

At that moment, I was watching Sasha inspect her eggs, they would be hatching about a month or two from now. When suddenly, I heard someone scream—and that someone was my mother.

"SKYLER YOU GET DOWN HERE NOW!" she called from out the window, "DO YOU HEAR ME,_ NOW_!" Well, she certainly seemed cheerful.

I climbed down the side of the building.

"NOT THAT WAY!" mom screeched.

"Too late, you might wanna move, I'm gonna land on you." I jumped in through the window—I'm sure that nearly gave mom a heart attack.

"What the #$%* do you think you're doing? You could've broken your neck!"

"No I wouldn't have. I've never broken it before!"

Her eyes widened. "You've done this before?"

I nodded, I didn't want to mention just how often.

I expected her to yell at me, threaten to throw away my Wii, and ground me for eternity at the very least. But, to my surprise, in a quiet voice (which to me was much, _much_ scarier) said, "get in the car, we're going somewhere."

I had no idea that my life was about to change forever.

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**Sorry this chapter was a bit shorter**


	6. Sophie 2

**Hi guys, thank you so much for all the reviews! **

**MoonDance29: It's okay, I hope you had fun :) **

**Skylan D. Water: Thanks again! **

**Note: Change of plans, Sophie lives in Wyoming instead of Washington**

**In case any of you are wondering, the reason why Sophie has such a big vocabulary for her age, is because she doesn't spend a lot of time with kids her age, and she was taught by very proper people. **

**Sorry this chapter is short, anyway, enjoy!**

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After our little "episode", I got mad at Stella and threw her into into an imaginary volcano, guarded by an imaginary fire-breathing dragon.

So there I was, two days later, lying on the grass looking at the clouds as I ate my lunch. On nice days we were allowed to have it outside. But something was missing. I felt so alone this time, without even my imaginary friend to comfort me.

I spotted a red fox sniffing the ground, looking for food. I kind of felt bad for him, and took part of my sandwich, putting it on the ground for it.

The fox noticed the food, but eyed it suspiciously, as if it might be a trick. Slowly, it crept up to the bread and snatched it before running into the bushes. I felt dissapointed. I don't know why. It was just a fox. I had seen them before, of course, I had never actually gotten so close to one. The adults always said to stay away from wild animals, because they were dangerous. What was the big deal, anyway? Foxes were not an uncommon sight in Wyoming, after all. But there was something different about this one.

I decided to push my luck and try it again. I put some more of my sandwich, but this time, in the palm of my hand instead. I held it out and waited. Minutes ticked by, and I began to feel stupid just standing there. Why on Earth would it come back? Nobody wanted to be around me, not even that fox.

I was about to give up, when I saw a nose stick out of the bush, followed by two curious, sneaky, but intelligent eyes. It had come back!

The fox came up even slower this time, but eventually decided to risk it, and ate from my hand.

I carefully reached out my hand to pet it. The fox didn't even flinch as I petted its soft fur.

"Hey dope, what are'ya doing now?" taunted Jack. You'd think after I saved his life he would leave me alone. Well, you'd be wrong.

He turned and saw the fox. "What the-oh, you are in SOOOOOOO much trouble!"

The patted the fox on the head to reassure it.

"AHH! She touched it!" he screamed. "Now she has rabies! RUN!"

Jack, and his stupid friends ran in all directions.

I turned to face the fox, but it was gone! Those jerks had scared it off!

Tears filled my eyes, and trickled down my cheeks. He was gone. That fox was the closest thing I had to a friend. He came to me out of his own free will, and trusted me enough to eat from the palm of my hand. My sadness soon turned to anger. Stupid Jack! This was all his fault! If he hadn't frightened the fox, he would have ran away. The fox was the only one in this entire place that didn't judge me, and now he was gone forever.

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**Aw, poor Sophie! The Percy Jacksoness starts coming soon, so get ready, I think in just a couple of chapters-or maybe even the next one, the real story begins!**

**Any sugguestions? Questions? Comments? Ideas? Constructive criticism (just don't be mean)? Let me know and please leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**MoonDance29: Thanx again! I know I feel bad for her too :(**

**HappyHatSeller: It's fine, I apprecitate your honesty. Usually I don't start with a long descriptive paragraph, but my dad keeps telling me I need more of those, so if you're going to blame anyone, blame him! lol (don't tell my dad I said that)**

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Third Person**

Percy was in a very good mood. He had finally finished the list of unfound half-bloods that the gods had given him. At last, freedom! Percy laid down in the grass in the shade of Thalia's pine tree and looked over the hill. Yep, he had done a pretty good done saving the world, if he did say so himself. But even super heros needed a break every now and then.

He had almost dozed off, when someone screamed in his ear. "Percy, wake up!"

"Huh?" he looked up to see an annoyed Annabeth glaring at him. Recently, it had been made offical, Annabeth and him were a couple. But, even though they were dating, he was still just a little scared of her-though Percy would never admit this. "Jeez, Annabeth! You don't have to scream."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Sorry. But what are you doing, lazing around like that? There are half-bloods to find!"

"What are you talking about? We finished the list. See," he gave it to her.

Annabeth looked at it and nodded. "And did you bother to check the back of the list, Seaweed Brain?"

"What ba-" she showed him the other side, where there were three names written on it. "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'. So, come on, there's work to be done."

Percy groaned. "Can't we just rest of a little while?" he complained.

"Oh, stop your whining! Let's go."

_I bet no other guy has to put up with a girlfriend like this_, he thought. But Percy didn't dare argue with Annabeth-for he knew he would lose.

"So. First up, we have a girl named Melissa in Florida."

"Florida? Annabeth, I don't think my step dad with let us take his car across the country."

"Actually, if we were going across the country it'd be Florida. But I never said we were taking Paul's car."

"No! We are not going on an airplane!"

"Percy, you didn't even let me finish."

"Fine, then what's your plan?"

"Well...we could have Mrs. O'Leary drop us off, and then we contact the camp when we find the girl and have her come back and pick us up."

I've learned to trust Annabeth's plans. They usually worked-and, let's face it, there was no talking her out of it.

"Who's she the daughter of?" I asked.

Annabeth squinted. "I can't tell. The writing's all blurry. Like someone spit all over it..."

It took about thirty seconds to realize what she meant. "MRS. O'LEARY!" I bellowed.

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**Melissa**

Dolphins always cheered me up. You just can't help but laugh when you see their up-turned smiles and bubbly personalities. But today, not even dolphins could brighten me up.

"Stupid homework," I muttered, walking into the dolphin room. The Bottlenoses saw me and started doing spins and jumps, calling to me with their high-pitched voices. "Hi," I said, "sorry, I don't have any treats now." I have dumb homework to do."

I opened my geometry text book. It took all of my consentration to keep my eyes on the page. The letters and words kept moving around, but finally, after what felt like hours, I was able to read the first section.

_A Triangle is a polygon. It had straight lines, and is always closed. A triangle has three corners and three sides. _"Well, duh," I said to myself. _There are three different types of triangles, Scalene, Isosceles, and Equilateral...blah blah blah. Blah blah. Blah. Triangle blah blah blah. Scalene blah blah blah. Isosceles blah blah blah. Equilateral blah blah blah._ I closed my book. "Well I think that's enough for now. Time for a break!" I said cheerfully.

I held out a hoop and had the dolphins jump through it.

"Honey," my mom said. It jumped, startled, and almost fell into the dolphin pool. "Did you finnish your homework already?"

"No. I'm taking a break."

"It's been seven minutes. Now get back to work, the dolphins can wait. I'll be right back, emergency call. One of the orcas needs special care."

"Can I come?" I asked hopefully.

"Nice try, you have studying to do, Missy. Now when I get back, I expect to see you working, understood?"

I pouted, but listened to her, forcing my eyes into the evil textbook of doom. I read a sentence.

My mom nodded, satisfied, and left the room._ Sucker! _

The second the sound of her footsteps faded, I jumped up from the bench and turned to the dolphins. "Now where were we?"

Suddenly, I got a knot in my stomach, like someone was watching me. It was only when I turned around did I realize that I was right.

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	8. Chapter 8

"Excuse me, do you know where we might find a girl named Melissa Harris?" Annabeth asked the man at the front desk. They had looked everywhere for the girl. Her home, her school, her friends' houses, this was the last place on the list of possible locations. The aquarium.

"Melissa Harris? Daughter of Amy?"

"Yes, do you know where she is?"

"Umm...I'm pretty sure she's with the dolphins. Go down that hall, third door on the left, she should be there. Are you friends of hers?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "From...uh...school."

The guy looked at Percy kind of funny. "Err...okay then."

Once in the hall Annabeth turned to Percy. "Remember the plan? I do the talking!"

"Sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered.

* * *

Not knowing their left from their right, the two dyslexics stumbled until they saw a woman come out of one room. Her name tag said: Amy Harris. That much they could read.

"Excuse me," Annabeth said, coming up to the room. "Is your daughter Melissa?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I'm Annabeth Chase, he's Percy Jackson. Have you heard of us?"

The woman nodded, tears filling her eyes. "You've come to take her?"

Annabeth put a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. "We're sorry. She can spend the rest of the year here."

"I-it's just th-tha-that...I didn't expect...you to come...s-so soon," she sobbed.

"She'll only be spending the summer with us. We'll take good care of her. Promise."

"Does she know yet?" asked Percy, unintentionally breaking the touching moment.

Annabeth shot him a look.

"What?"

* * *

There was a girl in there. Around fifth/sixth grade, from what the mother told her she was on her last week of school anyway. She was petting a dolphin, so her back was too them, but with a sudden jerk she turned around.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Melissa?"

She narrowed her eyes suspiously. "Do I know you?"

"Uh...no," Percy admitted, he sensed Annabeth's glare. "Sorry. Sorry, I know. I know. You do the talking."

"Good boy."

Melissa looked at the two as if they were crazy. "I'm sorry, the dolphin show doesn't start for an hour and a half."

"We're not here to see the dolphins Melissa..."

"Yes..." she said, waiting for her to get to the point.

"I was making a dramatic pause! Now you ruined it."

"Melissa," Percy said in the softest tone he could, "come on, we have a lot to talk about."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Melissa said. "My father is a Greek god, and he married my mom who's a mortal. So apparently I'm a demigod, and I'm supossed to come with you to this camp in New York where there are other demigods who train?"

"Yep, that pretty much covers it."

"Get lost," said Melissa, pushing them aside. "I don't have time for practical jokes. I'm busy trying to ditch homework."

"Why don't you believe us?" asked Annabeth.

"Because I'm not stupid." she crossed her arms, "I know exactly what you guys are trying to do."

"Fine, then what are we trying to do?"

"You two are either trying to kidnap me, or play the stupidest prank in the history of stupid pranks.-Or, you're just plain crazy."

"I'd go with the last one."

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**Yay, another chapter! Please review! **

**P.S. MoonDance29 you reviewed every chapter, you're awesome! ;D**


	9. Sophie 3

It was two weeks later. Two horrible awful weeks later. Two horrible awful weeks later. Two disgustingly pathetic horribly horrible awful weeks later. You get the point. I had not been in a very cheery mood.

The orphanage had schooling. Most of the time I just sat in the back doodling, but today would be different. In science we were learning about extinct animals, you see, and so somehow, the Parker's were able to convince some guy who worked at a museum to come and tell us about them. Normally I couldn't care less, but I was excited for this dude to come. Maybe it would get my mind off of that fox.

After lunch, a man drove into the driveway of the mansion. Nobody ever came except for the police (long story) or the delivery truck, and I had only been outside the place a couple of times. So having anybody-even some old boring science guy, come in was something that got all our attention.

The man introduced himself as Dan Booker. He was about thirty years old and had a short brown beard and was wearing what looked like a uniform, probably what they made the people wear where he worked. So we all just stood there as he went on, and on, and on, about the Saber-Toothed Cat; the Cave Lion; the Passenger Pigeon; the Golden Toad, and blah blah blah. I will admit though, it was more interesting than regular class. Dan let us play games, he read us aa book, showed us pictures, and even let us watch a movie! Movies were a big thing at Parker's Foster Care. They were a special privilege if we were really good. I had only watched TV six times in my life. But I loved it. Looking into the colorful screen was like window to a whole new world. I kind of liked the lesson, extinct animals were something that e me. Not the way out teacher explined it, but this guy made it much cooler and more exciting. I never knew that learning could be so much...fun. Dan even gave me a sticker when I answered a question right. He said he had a daughter just like me at home.

But there was one animal that particularily caught my attention. It was called the Tasmanian Tiger, the Tasmanian Wolf, or the Thylacine. Strangely enough, it wasn't a tiger, or a wolf, the thylacine was a type of animal called a marsupial. Marsupials are animals with pouches I learned, like kangaroos, except they were carnivores (animals that ate meat). As you may have guessed, the Tasmanian Tiger lived in Tasmania and a long time ago, in Australia. But when Europeans came to Tasmania, they saw the thylacines as a threat to their livestock. Soon they began killing them off, but the hundred, thousands even! The thought made me sick. Nothing should be treated like that. I find myself thinking about death more than most kids, it's weird really. Sorry, that's off topic, an ADHD thing. Anyway, it wasn't until the early nineteen hundreds that it was considered an endangered species. But pochers kept killing them off! In 1933, we finally came to common sense and decided to breed them in captivity. But it was too late. There was only one left. And it was a male. A zoo in Tasmania took the poor guy in and named him "Benjamin". People offered a reward to anyone who would find a mate for Benjamin, but nobody did. And in 1936, three years after taken into captivity, Benjamin, the last living thylacine, died.

Dan showed us a movie taken in 1933 of Benjamin pacing back and fourth in his zoo cage. The animal was beautiful. It looked kind of like a large dog, but with tiger-like black stripes on its back (I guess that's where it got its name), and a thick, otter-like tail. It was the saddest thing I ever saw. _Did he know he was the last living one of his species? Did he know that was the humans who killed off his brothers and sisters ad then trapped him in a cage?_ I felt like Benjamin at that moment. Trapped in a stupid cage, not knowing my family. Tears burned my eyes. I hated humans. I hated human for killing those poor cute animals. I hated humans for being stupid and selfish, not caring about anything they did or hurt. I hated myself for being a human. I hated everything!

By now I was sobbing, and everyone was staring at me. But I didn't care. I didn't care about anything in the world. But before I could leave, things got worse.

Dan brought out a preserved thylacine. The actual thing. Killed and then saved to look at. You could still see the fear in its eyes. _What was it thinking at that very moment? The moment it was killed? Did it have a mother? Did it have friends?_

At that point I couldn't take it anymore, I threw up all over the floor. Everyone started laughing, or saying how gross it was. I was too upset to be embaressed. I ran out of the room in tears.

* * *

Later on, the teacher forced me to apologize to Dan for "being rude". I mean, you have got to be kidding me! It was his fault I threw up in the first place! I hated my teacher! I hated that Dan person for making me so angry! It was all his fault!

But never the less, despite my protests, the teacher made me go over to him when he was packing up his truck to leave.

"Dan, Ms. Black has something she wishes to say to you."

He looked at me.

"I sorry," I muttered.

To my surprise, he gave me a sympathetic smile. "You don't have to be. I'm sorry if this upset you in any way."

I shrugged.

"It takes a really special person to appreciate animals the way you do. I have never, in my entire career, seen someone like you."

"Thanks," I said.

"Well, see you around, kid," he ruffled my hair and I couldn't help but giggle.

But right before he closed up the trunk, I could have sworn I saw the stuffed thylacine wink at me...

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**If ****you're wondering why I bothered with this chapter, the thylacine becomes important later on.**

**By the way, everything I said about the Tasmanian Tiger is true.**

**Anyway, press that little button at the bottom and tell me what you think. Go on, press it. You know you want to...**


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